A new website has been created for The Dictionary of Welsh Biography. It will be launched at the beginning of November 2018 and will include new content, functions and design. Head over to biography.wales now to see what's new!

This website will eventually be replaced by biography.wales. In the meantime, we would like to hear from our users so you're welcome to send us any questions or feedback that you may have.

HUGHES
,
JONATHAN
(
1721
-
1805
),
poet
;

b.
17 March 1721
at
Pengwern
, near
Llangollen
. He is said to have written poetry at the age of fifteen, and in the course of a long life he produced a large number of poems, mainly of the type common in the
18th cent.
, i.e. poems containing a good deal of
cynghanedd
and intended to be sung to the popular melodies of the time. Such poems by him appear regularly in the almanacs published by
CainJones
,
Philomath
(qq.v.), and others from
1755
to the end of the century. He also composed in the traditional strict metres; he wrote an elegy on
RichardMorris
, in the form of an awdl, in
1780
. An interlude by him,
Y Dywysoges Genefetha
, was published in
1744
, and a volume of his poetry, called
Bardd a Byrddau
, appeared in
1778
. As an
enthusiastic supporter of eisteddfodau
in the
18th cent.
, we find him mentioned in connection with the eisteddfod held at
Selattyn
in
1748
, and naturally he was prominent at the eisteddfod held at
Llangollen
in
Jan. 1789
. At the eisteddfod held at
Corwen
in May of the same year he was one of the three (
Twm o'r Nant
and
Gwallter Mechain
being the
other two) upon whose works the panel of adjudicators failed to reach a decision, with the result that the compositions were sent to
London
to be adjudicated by the
Gwyneddigion Society
. He was also present at the
Bala eisteddfod
in
Sept. 1789
. His eisteddfodic efforts however were not very successful; he was more skilled in the ‘carol’ type of poetry prevalent in the
18th cent.
He d.
25 Nov. 1805
. A son of his of the same name (
1753
-
1834?
), was also a
poet
, and published
Gemwaith Awen, Gwaith Beirdd Collen
in
1806
. The contents of the volume were for the most part his own compositions. He, in turn, had a son called
JonathanHughes
(
1797
-
1860?
), who was one of the
poets
present at an eisteddfod held at
Llangollen
in
1833
.